How graffiti detracts from bike paths: A spray-painted ride along the Tri-Community Greenway

If you ride your bike in the Boston area, you encounter graffiti pretty much everywhere. It’s obnoxious and unsettling, because it leads to a sense that civic-minded people are on the losing end while vandals are able to gain the upper hand.

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The Somerville Community Path from Davis Square to East Cambridge is particularly bad, with graffiti overwhelming the walls alongside the MBTA tracks and next to the path itself.

Today, though, I’d like to take a look at a different bike path — the Tri-Community Greenway from Winchester through Woburn and into Stoneham, along with a spur from Winchester to Horn Pond in Woburn. It’s 13.4 miles out and back, and it’s marked with numerous well-designed signs along the way — many of which have been smeared with graffiti.

As a bike path, the Greenway is more aspirational than it is reality, since much of it follows neighborhood streets. That’s especially true of the southern part of the route up to where you turn east off Central Street in Woburn onto an actual paved path. After that, you’re on a path, though with numerous street crossings.

Earlier this week I rode the entire Greenway, including the Horn Pond spur, and took photos to document what I saw.

First, I was pleased that the stone trail markers were clean for the most part. I concentrated on the colorful signs, which were definitely hit or miss. The Winchester end was relatively unmolested, probably because the signs are in busy areas where spray-paint-wielding vandals would not go unobserved.

The sign at the beginning (or end) of the Greenway, at Bacon Street in Winchester, was in pristine condition, as was the case through much of Winchester. ⬇️

The first vandalized sign I encountered was on Washington Street in Winchester at the Woburn line — not with graffiti, but with stickers. It’s in an area with fewer watching eyes than farther south. ⬇️

The underpass at I-93, at the Woburn-Stoneham line, deserves special mention. Vandals with spray paint have taken over the entire area. The underpass itself is covered with graffiti — some of it quite artistic, and maybe that space ought to be set aside for just that purpose. But the two Greenway signs have been completely covered over, as has a concrete bench.

I searched for some information on the negative social effects of graffiti and, oddly enough, was led to a resource posted by the city of Omaha, Nebraska. It says in part: “Graffiti is an act of destructive vandalism! It hurts communities both aesthetically and economically, decreases the feeling of safety, drains tax dollars, and sends the signal that nobody cares.” I couldn’t agree more. ⬇️

The Greenway sign at Montvale Avenue in Stoneham had been vandalized, front and back. Fortunately, a historical sign honoring Col. J. Parker Gould was left alone. ⬇️

The crossing at Green Street in Stoneham just west of Route 28 has been a problem for a long time. For many riders, this is the end of the line, since crossing Route 28 can be kind of hairy. But duty called, so I kept going. ⬇️

I found a real mess in Stoneham Center east of Route 28. ⬇️

The eastern terminus of the Greenway in Stoneham was graffiti-free. ⬇️

After reaching the eastern terminus in Stoneham, I rode back to Winchester High School, where I picked up the Horn Pond branch of the trail. Fortunately, there wasn’t much to report. The branch officially ends at Lake Avenue in Woburn, although you can keep riding, and there’s a nice loop around Horn Pond. ⬇️